In a case that tobacco law specialists say is one of the first of its kind in the nation, a Boston Housing Court jury ruled that a South Boston couple could be evicted from their rented water-view loft for heavy smoking, even though smoking was allowed in their lease.

The landlord who rented the Sleeper Street unit to Erin Carey and Ted Baar ordered them out within a week last November, after neighbors complained of the smoke odors filtering into their apartments.

Really? I live in an apartment above a heavy smoker, and it simply rises into my apartment. I have asthma, and it's certainly makes me ill.

In addition, my apartment smells like I am a heavy smoker.

Now you tell me, since I don't choose to smoke, what the solution is?

It's either 1. He goes, or 2. The landlord releases me from my lease.

Remember, your rights stop where my body begins. In this case you could say your rights stop where your apartment walls end, and if your actions go beyond your walls, then you are subject to eviction, etc.

"the jury found that the couple's heavy smoking violated a more general clause banning 'any nuisance; any offensive noise, odor or fumes; or any hazard to health.' "

The smoke and odor were invading the neighboring apartments. When I rent an apartment I like it to be free of my neighbors' noxious odors. It's like loud music or other noises: you can make noise, but not so much that you disturb the neighbors. These smokers could smoke, but not so much that they disturb the neighbors.

This is the next front for the smoking nazis. The latest public service ad is sponsored by mysmokefreeapartment.com . It's a way for tenants to petition the building owner to make it smoke free. That is, to throw out the smokers ala the restaurants.

Remember, your rights stop where my body begins. In this case you could say your rights stop where your apartment walls end, and if your actions go beyond your walls, then you are subject to eviction, etc.

Reminds me of a battle my brother-in-law had in his condo in Florida....neighbor complaining about the aroma of garlic when my brother-in-law made spaghetti sauce. The neighbor wanted 'ethnic' cooking banned in the entire complex.

The lease should have said no smoking allowed. That being said, smokers don't just impact their own insides; their smoke diffuses into the surrounding atmosphere, and then seeps through cracks in walls and through ductwork until it lends an odor to an entire building. Suppose that cigarette smoke smelled like hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs); would defenders of indoor smoking be as likely to defend it then? Probably not. To some of us, the smell of cigarette smoke, even at a distance, is almost as offensive as the smell of rotten eggs.

... and if your actions go beyond your walls, then you are subject to eviction, etc.

Is it OK if your neighbors have pictures of cigarette smoke on their walls? You remind me of the neurotic who held up a whole city's transportation system because all the buses did not have wheelchair access.

Thanks for defining the law for the rest of us all by yourself. What say you about the nut at an an outdoor concert who had a canniption fit because someone 200 feet downwind of her lit a cigarette? Should the offender also have been "evicted"?

Neurotics are not the center of the universe, you know.

23
posted on 06/16/2005 6:00:09 AM PDT
by Publius6961
(The most abundant things in the universe are ignorance, stupidity and hydrogen)

This has nothing to do with this thread, but I'm adding it anyway. Today is four months tobacco free for me. I quit cold turkey on 2/16 from smoking 2+ pax a day. I just realized it has been 1/3 of a year.

tobacco law specialists said the decision is one of the "nation's first to declare smoking a nuisance serious enough to become grounds for eviction.

''It is very important, because it is a sign that people are more aware of how dangerous second-hand smoke is," said Professor Richard Daynard, chairman of Northeastern University's Tobacco Products Liability Project, which tracks second-hand smoke litigation nationally."

how dangerous second-hand smoke is?"

Bullsh_t. This not about "dangerous second-hand smoke."

This is a "property rights" issue and victory.

I am a landlord and I decide what can and cannot be done on my property.

Suppose that cigarette smoke smelled like hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs); would defenders of indoor smoking be as likely to defend it then? Probably not. To some of us, the smell of cigarette smoke, even at a distance, is almost as offensive as the smell of rotten eggs.

Silly arguments, specially "suppose" ones, are a riot. Suppose your gross overweight body produces an intolerable smell offending others for a radius of 100 yards. Can the rest of us have you evicted?Suppose you start dating a martian who smells like Jabba the Hutt?

Suppose...

29
posted on 06/16/2005 6:04:56 AM PDT
by Publius6961
(The most abundant things in the universe are ignorance, stupidity and hydrogen)

''It is very important, because it is a sign that people are more aware of how dangerous second-hand smoke is," said Professor Richard Daynard, chairman of Northeastern University's Tobacco Products Liability Project, which tracks second-hand smoke litigation nationally."

Such a crock. Like these guys really CARE about our health and the health of others. If that were the case, they would be going after the Drug companies who continue, each day, to pump man-made substances into innocent victims, who believe what their doctor has told them.

Why not go after the real problem? Lies presented to the public?

AND - if smoking was allowed in the building - why was that not pushed in this case? Apparently the amount of smoking was not stated in the lease, just permitted.

The way Jury's seem to think these days baffles the mind in some cases. 'Just the facts, please ma'am.' Leave out the propaganda, and we may get somewhere with justice.

Who am I kidding. JK

34
posted on 06/16/2005 6:06:56 AM PDT
by Just Kimberly
(Always proud, Always American, Always Trust in God...HOOAH!!( and Terri - we will never forget.))

It climbs over walls and under doors. Comes in through windows and sneaks through holes. We share the air with a virtual potpourri of car exhaust, middle eastern immigrant body stank, obnoxious colognes, perfumes, deodorants, hairspray, footspray, butt powder, septic foulness, sewer gas, cooking odors (there's a certain Garlicy restaurant in New Jersey that comes to mind), cow flatulence, and cigarette smoke. We can't legislate against all of these, but it's fine with you to single out one of them. What should I do if I was your neighbor and became ill whenver you had your buddies from the Mosque over for some barbecued goat? </rant>

36
posted on 06/16/2005 6:09:46 AM PDT
by WideGlide
(That light at the end of the tunnel might be a muzzle flash.)

As a reformed smoker, I say this is going too far. If the lease permits smoking in your apartment, then I think there are other issues we don't know about.

While I do not find the smell of garlic offensive, (fried foods, especially in the heat can make me vomit) would never in a million years try to prevent someone from engaging in "ethnic" cooking. That's as stupid as trying to force everybody to be vegetarians!

I also live in an apartment building. The woman who lives above me never leaves her apartment and chain smokes all day. The tenant above her who was asthmatic had to move out because it was coming into her apartment - which stank of cigarette smoke. And in hot weather, her smoke permeates the entire building. I'm gonna show this article to my landlord.

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